Sovereign Camp, W.O.W. v. Eastis

• Decision Date: 09 June 1923
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 771.
• Citation: 96 So. 866,210 Ala. 29
• Parties: SOVEREIGN CAMP, W. O. W., v. EASTIS.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

96 So. 866

210 Ala. 29

SOVEREIGN CAMP, W. O. W., v. EASTIS.

6 Div. 771.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 9, 1923

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; C. B. Smith, Judge.

Action on beneficiary certificate by Elvina Eastis against the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed and remanded.

C. H Roquemore, of Montgomery, for appellant.

Beddow & Oberdorfer, of Birmingham, for appellee.

THOMAS J.

This is the second appeal. The former trial was upon count A, the general issue and plea 4 setting up matter in avoidance of the policy. Sovereign Camp, W. O. W. v. Eastis, 206 Ala. 49, 89 So. 63. The second trial was had on count 2-A and the general issue.

Plaintiff introduced in evidence the beneficiary certificate, policy No. 57927, issued May 11, 1914, for $1,000, insuring the life of Wm. P. Eastis, and payable to plaintiff. The evidence further showed that assured had paid all of his assessments to the 1st day of April, but "failed to pay the assessment for April, 1918, and was suspended from defendant's order at the end of the 1st day of May 1918." Thus was assured a member in good standing to said date, when he was suspended for failure of payment of the April assessments.

Plaintiff testified assured was her husband; that he died on September 23, 1918, being struck by a passenger train, which killed him, "about a quarter to seven," as he was going to work. The beneficiary certificate introduced in evidence contains recital that it is "issued and accepted subject to all the conditions on the back hereof and this certificate, together with the articles of incorporation constitution and laws of the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World and the application for membership and medical examination of the member herein named and all amendments to each thereof shall constitute the agreement between the society and the member and copies of the same certified by the secretary of the society or corresponding officer, shall be received in evidence of the terms and conditions thereof and any changes, additions, or amendments to the articles of incorporation, constitution or laws duly made or enacted subsequent to the issuance of this benefit certificate shall bind the member named herein and his beneficiaries and shall govern and control the agreement in all respects the same as though such changes, additions or amendments had been made prior to and were in force at the time of the application for membership, also subject to the by-laws of the camp of which he is a member."

Section 117 of defendant's by-laws, introduced in evidence requires of a member who has been suspended, for more than three months, and less than six months, to be restored to beneficiary membership, that he (1) present a certificate of good health from the camp physician; (2) be balloted for and receive a majority vote of the members present; and (3) that he shall pay four monthly installments of assessments and dues to the clerk of the camp. It would appear from this that after the "member" seeking restoration to beneficiary certificate has complied with the foregoing provisions of the by-laws, the duty is enjoined upon the camp clerk to forward immediately the three installments of assessments so paid, with the certificate of good health, to the sovereign clerk, and to place the fourth installment of assessment to the credit of the member as payment for the current month to the local camp. When this has been done, it is further declared in the by-laws that-

"Upon the receipt and acceptance of said three monthly installments of assessments by the sovereign clerk his beneficiary certificate shall be in full force and effect."

The record shows that the camp physician's certificate contains the statement of the fact that he had personally examined Wm. P. Eastis, a suspended member of Old Hickory Camp, No. 158, Woodlawn, state of Alabama, on the 19th day of September; was satisfied that he "is...